In which Natasha doesn't need the boys to save her butt
by Musicgirl xxx
Summary: Former title is, In which Natasha is a strong, independent woman and doesn't need a man to save her... Just a little one shot where Natasha is strong and self-dependant like in the first films not just a love interest that needs saving. Spoilers for Age of Ultron.


So I didn't like the way that Natasha could find something to transmit Morse code but had to be saved by Bruce so this is a short one shot of how I think it should have happened.

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In which Natasha is a strong independent woman and doesn't need a man to save her...

Natasha internally rolled her eyes as Ultron wittered on and on at her. The machine had inherited Stark's ability to annoy her through just words but as she was currently playing the damsel in distress, she couldn't let her annoyance show so she had to pretend the heap of scrap metal actually scared her. It had also inherited Stark's need to share his plans for vindication but Stark was good and peaceful generally where as Ultron had a majorly messed up idea od good and peace.

She scrambled back like she was expected when Ultron advanced on her, knowing full well where it put her but preferring to stay alive so she could enact her plan still alive and relatively unharmed rather than crushed.

Ultron clearly hadn't thought through where he was putting her, or he had just underestimated her greatly. Well, that worked in her favour whichever way it was. Natasha knew what she had to do and she knew just how to do it. She many not be a genius like Tony or Bruce but she had been an accomplished spy and assassin for the better proportion of her life and she wasn't still alive through pure luck, she had developed some pretty handy and impressive skills along the way.

She had to time her plan perfectly, though, as it wouldn't do her any good to get captured by Ultron again so she waited until he stalked off, clearly thinking she was stuck. Perfect. She set about going.

The Morse code machine she produced was crude but effective and she knew Clint would be looking for her, he was her partner first and foremost and he always had her back. It would take them a while to get to her, though, and she wasn't one to sit about and do nothing, acting as the damsel in distress. She would be dead by now if she relied on others to save her when she got caught and she was still here so, while she was still alive, she was going to do her level best to get herself out.

The boxes she had been thrown in with looked innocuous and useless at first but Natasha had made weapons out of lesser things so she wasn't at all deterred. She had all the pieces laid out on the floor of her makeshift cell until she could see more confident plan beginning to form. Her initial plan had been quite crude, who was she kidding, it was very crude. It had literally been get message out and escape. Details were always better when you knew what you had to work with, she had found, but her plans wound Agent Coulson up when he had been their handler. He liked to know exactly what was going on and Natasha and Clint had a habit of flying off the bat a little too much for his liking.

The details were coming together at an amazing rate now that she saw what she had been left with and, considering the age of the building and the rust on all the metal, she had a pretty good idea of how to get out of there. Timing was crucial, however, as she didn't want to get caught or have to face Ultron and his pitiful army all alone for too long, she was good but no one was that good, not even Steve!

After a short wait, getting the necessary objects for her plan ready, Natasha was ready to make a bid for freedom. Enough playing the damsel in distress, she thought, never had been and I most definitely never will be while I can help it. Barton would have got her message as soon as she sent it, of that Natasha was sure, so the Avengers should be closing in on her location very soon.

Hefting the large metal, temporary battering ram onto her shoulder, she pinpointed the weak spot of the metal, the lock mechanism, and ran. The ram did it's job very well, everything she made always did, and, soon, she was flying through the metal and out of confinement.

Shocked and pleased at her immediate success, she had thought that the metal would hold up for longer than that under pressure but, either it was weaker than it looked or she was stronger than she thought. Either way, it didn't matter anymore as she was out and ready to fight. No one locked Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow, up and didn't live to regret making sure she couldn't escape. There hadn't been an occasion that she hadn't done just that yet, either.

Running up the steps, she didn't encounter anyone along the way which was lucky for anyone who potentially could have been there as they wouldn't have lasted long. Ultron must have been confident in her confinement as he hadn't even bothered to disarm her properly and she found her batons quickly, making her way outside as fast as she could.

Ultron was nowhere to be seen as far as she could tell but there were a few of his pesky mini me's lurking around. Natasha threw herself into the battle with them, destroying them with quick and easy efficiency that showed just how displeased she had been at her treatment, not that the robots would be alive to warn anyone of that but anyone who saw the remains would be able to tell that someone was angry. She had even manage to decapitate a few with a sharp metal pole she had pilfered along the way.

Apparently killing their comrades attracted the attention of more of the robots and, soon, she was fighting off a small horde of them. As she was fighting the last three, the others hadn't lasted long, they really were stupid things, she heard quinjet engines and the noise of Tony's jet thrusters. 2. 1.

The last one was dismembered violently and lay sparking on the ground as the other Avengers and the twins joined her on the ground. Their jaws dropped as they took in the extent of the robots she had killed off before looking at her.

"I thought you were locked up?" Tony questioned.

"What?" Natasha asked. "You thought I was going to play damsel in distress so one of you could come and rescue me? Sorry boys and girl," she said indicating at Wanda but giving Tony a smirking look to which he scoffed at the implication, "But I don't play like that. Now, are you going to help me or are you just going to keep gawking?"

She punctuated the last statement by zapping a singular approaching robot, stopping it in it's tracks and leaving it in a sparking mess on the floor.

The others gaped even more whilst Clint and Steve chuckled at that.

"That's my girl!" Clint said, ignoring the glare from Natasha for calling her his girl, she was no one's 'girl', she was her own person.

"Oh yeah," the Captain added. "She's with us!"

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Hope you liked it and it portray Natasha in a better light than I felt Age of Ultron did in term of her skills and being as competent as the men. It's not that I didn't like AoU, I loved it, but I just didn't like how Natasha went from a strong, sarcastic female lead to a love interest that needed saving and supplemented the male story lines. Unbeta'd so sorry for the mistakes.


End file.
